It's a banner year for Blizzard. The video game studio, responsible for hits like World of Warcraft, Diablo and recent blockbuster Overwatch, has now been making games for a quarter of a century.

I went along to the company's BlizzCon event held in Anaheim, California recently and got to speak to two of its founders, Frank Pearce and Mike Morhaime.

Chief development officer Frank and CEO Mike co-founded Blizzard along with Allen Adham back in 1991, initially working on game ports for other studios before working on their own titles.

Blizzard founders Frank Pearce and Mike Morhaime

From such humble beginnings, the pair have picked up some wisdom along the way. Did they have any advice for rookie game developers trying to make their mark on the industry?

"They need to be committed to the idea that it's going to be for the world. It's global," said Frank. "There's millions of players out there, millions of people who could potentially see what you're doing. Even right now, with smartphones, it's accessible. Anyone can make content for these devices.

"They need to be prepared for the idea that, if it hits, they’re going to have an obligation to millions and millions of people."

The Lost Vikings was one of the team's earliest games

This sentiment certainly ties in with the company's inclination to view their games as platforms to be supported long-term, rather than the 'release and start planning the sequel' attitude we see with a number of other large developers.

Mike, undoubtedly drawing on lessons learned by Blizzard in the past, stressed the importance of flexibility: "I think you have to be willing to change course, you have to be open to feedback. One thing I can tell you is that it's not going to go according to your plan!"

Dungeon crawler series Diablo marks its 20th anniversary this year

What's also noteworthy about the studio is that, as well as being the home of some of gaming's biggest franchises, their work covers a wide range of genres.

There's the real-time strategy of Starcraft, the monolithic MMO World of Warcraft, action RPG Diablo, and the card game Hearthstone. Meanwhile, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch are Blizzard's respective takes on the MOBA and first-person shooter genres.

Given their success in such different fields, I was curious to find out how the developer ended up running the gamut of game styles. Was it a conscious choice to put their fingers in so many pies, or happenstance?

Overwatch recently hit the 20 million player mark

For Mike, it was a case of bringing Blizzard's trademark style to something new: "I think it's if we feel we have something to add to the genre."

According to Frank, exploring different genres has been a fairly organic process: "I wouldn't say that the focus is to target a specific genre as much as it is to target something that we’re passionate about playing, experiencing and sharing with our community.

"If we think we can make a great game and make a great experience, then genre is less important than having it reach lots of people in our community and expand it."

As to what Blizzard will try next, that's anyone's guess. They've avoided putting out a kart racing spin-off thus far, although I for one am not entirely against the idea of miniature versions of Diablo and Deckard Cain tooling around on tiny quad bikes.